Canadian farce next show for Summer Theatre

July 2, 2014

The third production of ESU Summer Theatre's 60th Anniversary season is Too Many Cooks, a sidesplitting farce sure to have audiences laughing loud and long. Written by the Canadian writing team of Marsha Kash and Douglas E. Hughes, the production will be presented in the Karl C. Bruder Theatre, July 9th through the 12th.

It’s 1932 in Niagara Falls, Canada, where the rum-running business is at its peak. Irving Bubbalowe (Andrew McCutcheon, Gardner, senior) and his daughter, Honey (Aubrey Near, BA 2014, Independence), have risked everything they have to open a new gourmet restaurant. When their star—the renowned singing chef Francois LaPlouffe—fails to appear, the grand opening is in jeopardy.

Complicating the proceedings are a gangster from Chicago (Nathan Dale Short, junior, Paola), an officer from Canadian immigration (Sydney Main, sophomore, Emporia) and a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Landon Noll, senior, Valley Falls.) Other cast members include Brock Boudoin, a student at Southwestern University (Texas) and Emmanuel Cockrell (junior, Junction City). Madness ensues amidst a nest of fabricated stories and identities as father and daughter try valiantly to save the restaurant and themselves.

Too Many Cooks is a new farce in the spirit of Noises Off and last summer's Drinking Habits. Jim Bartruff directs. The costume designer is Amanda Dura. Hair and makeup designer is Lauren Smith, a student at the University of Central Missouri. The setting is designed by Samaria Fleig (BFA, 2014). Mark Warner (BFA, 2014, Salina) is the lighting designer. The production stage manager is Lisa Tinker (senior, Derby).

All performances are in the Karl C. Bruder Theatre in King Hall, with a 7:30 p.m. curtain. Individual tickets and season passes are available from the university box office at 620-341-6378.

Following the Friday night July 11 performance is a 60th anniversary season special event. Senior Marah Melvin (Iola) will present a one-woman show called Miss Adelaide's Late Night Hour (The Psychology of Love). The one-hour, one-woman show features songs and vignettes about love and relationships and will begin at 10:30 p.m.

Miss Melvin gave a memorable performance as Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls in the fall of 2012. No admission will be charged, but contributions to ESU Theatre scholarships will be accepted during the performance.